Why I Won’t Bother With For Honor On Release Day

First off, I’m British. So I do apologise for my use of an ‘s’ instead of ‘z’ in some words, and spelling For Honor with a ‘u’… Uhonor. No, wait. Honour. I’ll try my best to honor Ubisoft’s wishes, though, and drop the ‘u’ in this article.

Anyway.

I was one of the lucky few who got to play the For Honor closed beta over the weekend. Particularly because it’s a game that I’ve been looking forward to for a while, now. Ever since Conrad played it at last year’s Gamescom, in fact. So I was excited to get my hands on the game, even if it’s not quite the finished product. Plus, you know Vikings and Samurais in the same game.

I think that’s probably the most important thing to remember whilst reading this article. What I played was not the finished product. It’s pretty damn close, though.

For Honor beta is not the finished product

Whilst the game itself is relatively solid – with the combat mechanics being rather refreshing, to say the least – I was still disappointed by the gameplay. I was hoping that it would be brutal. Gory. Visceral. But it just wasn’t. It felt plain. A little boring, if anything. Imagine Assassin’s Creed’s combat. But instead of it being fast paced and flowing – For Honor is a tad clunky, and you’re constantly getting stabbed in the back whilst focusing on one enemy. A little gore wouldn’t have gone amiss. I mean, you’re playing as a Viking in some parts – and they were well known for their brutality on the battlefield.

My second complaint is that I only ever got to fight against the bots. I’m not sure if it was server issues, (it was definitely server issues), but every time I tried to go online I got an error message. Despite being told that they were putting me in a game. That would be fine, were it not for the fact that the bots totally had my number. Every swing, they managed to block me. Every time I tried to block, they managed to stagger me and go in for the kill. It wasn’t a pleasant learning experience. Rather, a trial by fire. Couple that with the fact that my team were doing jack shit, along with the enemy constantly triple teaming me – it wasn’t an overly fun experience. Though in fairness, I never really liked fighting bots in the first place.

I won’t be getting For Honor on day one

That’s not to say that the game is awful, though. I actually found a lot to love. The class system, for instance, was brilliant. There’s a decent amount of choice for playable characters – and all of those characters can be customised to make them unique, and more powerful. Designing my own crest to play under was a real highlight. So there’s definitely potential here, don’t get me wrong.

But if you want a final reason for not picking up For Honor on day one, look no further than this extensive Reddit thread on technical issues with the beta. Granted, it’s just the beta. Not the finished article. But I’d be pretty surprised if they’ve managed to iron out all of the issues before release over the course of this fortnight. Even if they have, the games will be shipping to stores soon – so expect a hefty day one patch.

Because of my beta play, I’ve actually cancelled my pre-order. It’s not because it’s a bad game – far from it. I just have a sneaky feeling that it’s going to be an absolute pain to play on launch. So why bother? I’ve got plenty of games to keep my interest whilst I wait for the issues to be fixed.

But what about you? Did you play the For Honor beta, and find that it was actually a fun, enjoyable online experience? Let me know in the comments below!

Hvd

its to esport for me with the 4v4 that everyone likes.thats because its like dota 2 and league thats why they like it.since i hate esports ill pass.also i dont like premade class system like are in esports so ill pass.the dualing gets old and boring fast i was bored in an hour of it…so ill pass.lastly every one said the game has so much skill…BUT all i saw during beta weekend was every one cheeseing everyone….ill pass.

thats 4 reasons for me to pass on this game .
esport like…pass
esport like heros….pass
duals are slow and boring….pass
everyone cheesing like with peace makers grab and stab move over and over….pass

I agree, to be honest. I didn’t find the game interesting at all really. Plus most of the battles (even against the bots) ended with me vs 2/3 enemies – and it’s just not possible to come out of that on top.

Hvd

i was watching everyone play peace keeper and just cheesing with the grab stab attack and called it skill…lol…no thx.they talk so much about there is skill in the game when all they do is cheese.

Hvd

its to esport for me with the 4v4 that everyone likes.thats because its like dota 2 and league thats why they like it.since i hate esports ill pass.also i dont like premade class system like are in esports so ill pass.the dualing gets old and boring fast i was bored in an hour of it…so ill pass.lastly every one said the game has so much skill…BUT all i saw during beta weekend was every one cheeseing everyone….ill pass.

thats 4 reasons for me to pass on this game .
esport like…pass
esport like heros….pass
duals are slow and boring….pass
everyone cheesing like with peace makers grab and stab move over and over….pass

I agree, to be honest. I didn’t find the game interesting at all really. Plus most of the battles (even against the bots) ended with me vs 2/3 enemies – and it’s just not possible to come out of that on top.

Hvd

i was watching everyone play peace keeper and just cheesing with the grab stab attack and called it skill…lol…no thx.they talk so much about there is skill in the game when all they do is cheese.